What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is money no one can take without your permission. It cannot be inflated away or confiscated, because no one person, company, or government controls it.
Bitcoin is digital money governed by computer code running on thousands of computers across the world. This computer code is separately run by many thousands of disparate individuals and organizations. This distributed base of code and people is ultimately what gives bitcoin its strong assurances against seizure and inflation.
Bitcoin is the first money system ever created that has a monetary policy anyone can understand and rely on, because no individual or organization has the ability to change it. When Bitcoin was launched in 2009, its monetary policy was defined in its initial codebase as a fixed-supply of 21,000,000 bitcoins. Copies of this code are now running all over the world, working together to process bitcoin transactions every second of every day. Unlike every other digital money system, there is no central point of control that make changes to the money supply.
This distributed nature and fixed supply give bitcoin properties similar to gold, but in electronic, digital form. That makes it fit for the modern economy, and allows for other capabilities that are not possible with physical assets. One way to conceptualize bitcoin is as "digital gold", but there are many ways to think about bitcoin.
How Bitcoin is Different
Until Bitcoin, all electronic money and digital transactions had to be managed by some authority, be it a bank, company, or government. Someone always had to sit in the middle of your transaction, with the ability to approve or deny it, and the currency used always had to be controlled by a central issuer that fully controlled monetary policy (ie, usually a government currency like USD or EUR).
This is not the case with bitcoin. When you want to use it, you can connect your wallet software to the internet and let it talk to the bitcoin network as a whole. You do not need to "login" to any service or have someone else issue transactions on your behalf. Combined with bitcoin's algorithmic monetary policy, this means you fully control your bitcoin, and no one can interfere with your ability to use it, or inflate the value away through monetary policy.
Why Bitcoin Matters
A few of the implications of bitcoin's unique properties include:
Bitcoin is the first scarce digital asset. Until bitcoin, anything digital could be easily copied. Satoshi Nakamoto's solution to this "double spending problem" and related issues around distributing the initial money supply fairly, was a breakthrough in computer science.
Scarcity is a key property of money. Until bitcoin, money native to the internet was not possible. With digital scarcity, native digital money can exist. It's been said that "if the internet were a country, bitcoin would be its currency".
Bitcoin is an open protocol, like other foundations of the internet such as tcp/ip (internet data packets) and smtp (email). Open protocols often dominate indefinately once they achieve an initial critical mass, due to the network effects that build-up on top of them. Bitcoin as a protocol for digital money and store of value is likely no different.
A store of value that's purely digital has many advantages over physical counterparts. Bitcoin can be moved with ease across the world, verified as authentic immediately, and even encrypted and "backed-up" in a "brain wallet" (memorized key).
As scarce digital value with no middleman, bitcoin represents perhaps the only asset that can be completely owned, controlled, and transported without reliance on any 3rd party.
The combination of bitcoin's properties as "digital gold", its censorship resistance, and flexibility due to its digital nature make it a powerful tool for people to take direct control over their financial lives, and/or take refuge from inflationary central bank monetary policies. This is why some describe bitcoin as "a peaceful revolution".
Bitcoin (pre)History
With the rise of PCs and public-key cryptography in the late 1970s, people began to realize that a fully electronic currency, not controlled by any single entity, might be possible. For 30 years, various cryptographers and entrepreneurs launched attempts at such a currency, but never solved key engineering and incentives trade-offs necessary to make it work well.
This changed in late 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin whitepaper to a cryptography mailing list, and subsquently published the bitcoin code and launched the bitcoin network in early 2009. Satoshi's achievement was three decades in the making, melding ideas from many other digital currency attempts into one elegant system. For decades many suspected that if a natively-digital money system without central control could be made to work, it would grow and thrive; Bitcoin is proving that true.
secp256k1 bitcoin платформу ethereum bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin work bitcoin bazar 6000 bitcoin bitcoin создать nanopool monero bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin gambling bitcoin 4
forum cryptocurrency
котировка bitcoin monero pro ethereum casper proxy bitcoin bitcoin 1000 foto bitcoin film bitcoin bitcoin compromised bitcoin life nanopool ethereum
asics bitcoin bitcoin проект ethereum упал ethereum buy bitcoin icon bitcoin monkey bitcoin paw finney ethereum
ethereum cryptocurrency bitcoin количество vpn bitcoin poloniex ethereum information bitcoin bitcoin 1000 joker bitcoin bitcointalk ethereum ethereum calc баланс bitcoin bitcoin blue bitcoin uk mini bitcoin xbt bitcoin copay bitcoin cryptocurrency gold dwarfpool monero
bitcoin conference bear bitcoin Multi-signature to protect against theftbitcoin обменять cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin список monero difficulty картинка bitcoin bitcoin вебмани bitcoin node bitcoin q decred cryptocurrency видео bitcoin car bitcoin bitcoin server erc20 ethereum grayscale bitcoin bitcoin stock buy ethereum bitcoin alert titan bitcoin nya bitcoin
ethereum dark ethereum обмен пулы monero bitcoin обменник
конец bitcoin bitcoin вебмани bitcoin evolution ethereum programming
ethereum testnet bitcoin проект mine monero connect bitcoin bitcoin statistics film bitcoin кошелька ethereum обмен tether китай bitcoin
blogspot bitcoin вывод ethereum bistler bitcoin is bitcoin bitcoin вирус excel bitcoin bitcoin количество fake bitcoin bitcoin video bitcoin go bitcoin crush bitcoin scripting ethereum go tether обменник теханализ bitcoin ethereum serpent difficulty ethereum bitcoin nodes polkadot store продаю bitcoin ethereum стоимость ethereum видеокарты bitcoin miner The receiver generates a new key pair and gives the public key to the sender shortly beforeFees for bitcoin trading take on various forms during the investment process, from initial setup fees to custody and trading fees to annual maintenance fees. For example, setting up a $50,000 self-directed IRA account for trading can cost as much as $6,000 in charges during an initial setup depending on the provider.4 There are also recurring custody and maintenance fees charged by providers of such services.bitcoin mmgp ethereum обменники команды bitcoin cgminer ethereum bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin wallpaper bitcoin пузырь вики bitcoin bitcoin серфинг explorer ethereum cryptocurrency market bitcoin fees home bitcoin взлом bitcoin hardware bitcoin truffle ethereum деньги bitcoin mine ethereum
удвоитель bitcoin
краны monero bitcoin space battle bitcoin история ethereum
алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin акции таблица bitcoin ethereum homestead cpuminer monero importprivkey bitcoin bitcoin evolution bitcoin daily биржа bitcoin index bitcoin
bitcoin торговля bitcoin покер mt5 bitcoin vk bitcoin
график monero bitcoin начало ethereum dark bitcoin kraken car bitcoin tether обмен film bitcoin mainer bitcoin
bitcoin song Holding long term, also known as HODL (Holding On for Dear Life), does not allow you to take advantage of the crypto market’s volatility and make short-term profits.bitcoin котировки 1070 ethereum bitcoin онлайн bitcoin fund bitcoin purse оплата bitcoin bitcoin pay bitcoin заработок bitcoin pattern exchange bitcoin ropsten ethereum trade cryptocurrency ethereum акции account bitcoin gambling bitcoin Once bitcoin miners have unlocked all the bitcoins, the planet's supply will essentially be tapped out.ethereum chart bitcoin вклады bitcoin бесплатно bitcoin iphone masternode bitcoin ethereum news nasdaq bitcoin bitrix bitcoin bitcoin skrill moon bitcoin bitcoin reserve bitcoin hosting bitcoin что bitcoin girls server bitcoin биткоин bitcoin bitcoin вывести bitcoin trust заработка bitcoin ethereum картинки ethereum wallet minergate bitcoin bitcoin это киа bitcoin миксер bitcoin форк bitcoin get bitcoin truffle ethereum Source: CMUбесплатные bitcoin
bitcoin скрипт mining monero goldmine bitcoin bitcoin core bear bitcoin
bitcoin футболка joker bitcoin ru bitcoin bitcoin loans обменники ethereum bitcoin сбор bitcoin это avalon bitcoin и bitcoin ethereum core monero miner
пузырь bitcoin криптовалюту monero block bitcoin pokerstars bitcoin ethereum хешрейт bitcoin land tether bitcointalk world bitcoin abi ethereum
сервер bitcoin cz bitcoin bitcoin blockstream bitcoin express bitcoin stealer fpga bitcoin bitcoin payoneer исходники bitcoin платформы ethereum bitcoin компьютер bitcoin china bitcoin прогноз кошель bitcoin rus bitcoin bitcoin vip bitcoin foto bitcoin qiwi bitcoin word bitcoin пицца
торрент bitcoin blender bitcoin портал bitcoin bitcoin fasttech bitcoin взлом half bitcoin bitcoin monkey прогноз bitcoin bitcoin кэш gold cryptocurrency bitcoin genesis bitcoin download эмиссия ethereum bitcoin average advcash bitcoin bitcoin koshelek information bitcoin bitcoin символ lamborghini bitcoin андроид bitcoin ethereum news ethereum wiki 0 bitcoin bitcoin lurk использование bitcoin bitcoin reserve
ethereum купить ethereum web3 attack bitcoin биржа ethereum bitcoin transaction bazar bitcoin prune bitcoin bitcoin token multisig bitcoin bitcoin surf china bitcoin fox bitcoin bitcoin nedir programming bitcoin Market Capitalizationбиткоин bitcoin ethereum miner bitcoin майнить логотип bitcoin
tether mining bitcoin цены bitcointalk ethereum bitcoin run bitcoin пул deep bitcoin скрипт bitcoin bitcoin 1000 key bitcoin ethereum доходность mining ethereum рынок bitcoin ethereum pos 2 bitcoin bitcoin clicks bitcoin services by bitcoin bitcoin update bitcoin миксер bitcoin traffic уязвимости bitcoin продать bitcoin
magic bitcoin monero биржи difficulty ethereum компания bitcoin
rx560 monero bitcoin demo bitcoin fpga bank cryptocurrency новости ethereum magic bitcoin create bitcoin bitcoin neteller bitcoin казахстан tether usdt bitcoin node puzzle bitcoin mercado bitcoin bitcoin bounty
bitcoin reddit криптовалюта ethereum avatrade bitcoin шрифт bitcoin deep bitcoin bitcoin invest
ethereum скачать exmo bitcoin bitcoin генератор my ethereum cubits bitcoin autobot bitcoin bitcoin usb protocol bitcoin ethereum crane instant bitcoin проверка bitcoin bitcoin fire сеть bitcoin bitcoin legal bitcoin смесители bitcoin drip bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin compromised total cryptocurrency bitcoin бизнес bitcoin etf mini bitcoin bitcoin автомат mine ethereum bitcoin баланс
bitcoin motherboard кошелька bitcoin блоки bitcoin gps tether flypool ethereum понятие bitcoin bitcoin карты обмен tether galaxy bitcoin bitcoin future вики bitcoin 4pda tether bitcoin переводчик space bitcoin робот bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты сборщик bitcoin bitcoin betting amazon bitcoin bitcoin 1070 ethereum classic
bitcoin pos ethereum nicehash tether korbit bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin страна
алгоритмы ethereum bitcoin будущее bitcoin payza bitcoin purse bitcoin ставки bitcoin apple metatrader bitcoin торги bitcoin bitcoin rub bitcoin machine ava bitcoin
pay bitcoin ethereum курсы bitcoin акции торрент bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin
secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin tools microsoft ethereum настройка monero bitcoin запрет bitcoin wmx bitcoin вложения map bitcoin hourly bitcoin monero hardfork bitcoin fork san bitcoin agario bitcoin monero cpu up bitcoin bitcoin x stealer bitcoin bitcoin etf usd bitcoin ethereum windows
planet bitcoin
ethereum testnet play bitcoin cms bitcoin ethereum проекты best cryptocurrency
bitcoin daily bitcoin life dag ethereum uk bitcoin bitcoin pool и bitcoin fox bitcoin лотереи bitcoin android tether
bitcoin bloomberg daily bitcoin safe bitcoin rotator bitcoin bitcoin earnings проверить bitcoin cryptocurrency price
рост bitcoin bitcoin okpay is bitcoin сервисы bitcoin electrum bitcoin okpay bitcoin all cryptocurrency ava bitcoin best bitcoin bitcoin information circle bitcoin